Potential devastating impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the diagnosis and treatment of head and neck cancer

 

New data from the United Kingdom reveals potential devastating impact of COVID-19 pandemic on head and neck cancer patients. At the peak of the first lock down, there was a 59% drop in urgent referrals for people with a suspicion of head and neck cancer.

The devastating impact on projected five-year survival for people with head and neck cancer sees the pre-COVID projected 5 year survival of 47% will potentially drop to 43% of head and neck cancer patients.

This could lead to an additional 451 deaths in people with head and neck cancer in the United Kingdom.

The data from DATA-CAN (The Health Data Research Hub for Cancer) provided a valuable insight into the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on all cancer patients and cancer services. The research found:

• A decline in urgent referrals for cancer (70% decrease) during the initial lock down
• A decline in chemotherapy attendances (40% decrease) during the initial lock down
• For certain cancers, these declines had only partially recovered.

The researchers have now looked in detail at the impact on head and neck cancers and found that, at its worst, there was a drop of nearly 60% in urgent referrals for a suspicion of head and neck cancer during the first lockdown. This meant that 6 out 10 people who had symptoms potentially indicating head and neck cancer were not being referred to a specialist to investigate further.

Estimates suggest that this could have a devastating impact on five-year survival for people with head and neck cancer. Pre-COVID, around 47% of people with head and neck cancer would be projected to survive for five years or more. This figure could now drop to 43% which could potentially lead to an additional 451 deaths in people with head and neck cancer as a result of the pandemic.

Watch a video that presents the data and what can be done to mitigate the situation.